Remembering my Miss Vicki. Thomas Crochetiere

      

      Remembering

      my Miss Vicki

      a Biography

      by Thomas Crochetiere

      Copyright © 2011 by Thomas Crochetiere

      Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com

       http://www.eBookIt.com

      ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0254-3

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

      For my Miss Vicki

      “For whom you love, you shall say,

      but in your own special way”

      Acknowledgments

      Special thanks to:

      Jeannie Fitzsimmons for her assistance in editing this book.

      Photos provided by:

      Thomas Crochetiere, Richard Rugh, Linda Wilford and Krystal Crews.

      Chapter one

      An Introduction to Vicki

       My name is Thomas Crochetiere and this is a story of my wonderful wife Vicki Lynn Crochetiere. The majority of this story will focus on our marriage together during the year of our Lord, 2010. 2010 was without a doubt, a roller coaster ride with extreme highs and extreme lows. We were literally blessed with some of the happiest times of our marriage, with the year ending in the worst.

       Vicki and I first met on December 31, 1983 at 8:35 PM. It was at a New Year’s Eve Party given by Ben, a mutual friend, where I first laid eyes on her. I remember this well as I was immediately taken with her. It was love at first sight for me. Prior to this, I had never believed in love at first sight, until it happened to me.

       I introduced myself to Vicki and we spoke all evening. A couple of people even commented that we made a cute couple and asked how long we had been dating. I knew that evening that I would someday marry Vicki.

       The next day, I told my mother (Barbara) I had met the woman of my dreams and I planned to marry her someday. My mother just laughed as she did not believe I would marry this girl. Later that day, I asked Vicki to go out on a date and thus began our amazing journey together.

       From the beginning, I often called Vicki, “Miss Vicki”. I do not know exactly why but it just seemed fitting. I immediately had a great deal of respect for her, as she was very special. In a way, I thought of her as a queen and deservedly needed a title. Since she did not object, the title stuck.

      Vicki and I have one son, Jason who married Rachel and gave us our first beautiful grandchild, Delilah Rose. Jason then left and moved to Florida where he met Krystal. They gave us our next grandchild, Zane. Delilah’s mother had another child with Ray, which brought Timmy into our lives. Jason then moved back to California and met Sabrina who has two children, Aloni (Loni) and Lincoln. Even though Timmy, Loni and Lincoln were not our grandchildren by birth, Vicki and I considered them every bit our grandchildren and Vicki very much adored all of her grandchildren.

       Vicki and Delilah quickly grew to have a very special bond together. As Delilah was growing up, it became obvious she was taking after her Grandma Vicki and was learning all of her habits, both good and bad. Vicki and Delilah arguably had a closer bond than Delilah had with either of her parents. It brought everyone pleasure to see Vicki and Delilah interact together as they seemed inseparable.

       We were very fortunate to have had Delilah visit us so often. She loved going with us to visit family and friends, go on day trips or camping. We also introduced her to Disneyland and had many memorable trips together. Vicki and Delilah had many “girls only” trips to Disneyland as well. Delilah often told us Disneyland was her second favorite place. When we asked her what her first favorite place was, she would simply say “Grandma Vicki’s house”.

       Life was good for us as we were fortunate to have had the opportunity to take our motor home out on a regular basis for weekend camping trips. On average, we would go camping 14-times each year. We have always enjoyed spending time with family and friends going camping, off-roading, cruising, hiking, traveling and to the sprint car races.

       Throughout our marriage, we had taken three cross-country trips, and even drove all the way to Alaska. Vicki and I had been to all 50-states and most of the Canadian provinces. Vicki had a fear of flying and we saved our collection of the state of Hawaii for the last, flying there in 2004.

       In late 2009, we joined four other couples (Lew and Bonnie, Tom and Gayle, John and Lisa and Darryl and Chris), took a 14-day cruise to Hawaii, and had a wonderful time. Vicki got seasick easily and wore motion sickness patches to help combat it, taking a few days to get her sea legs.

       During 2010, we had stepped up our camping, going out 21-times! We often went camping with three different groups. We had our off-roading group of friends, our just hanging out and traveling together group of friends and our family group. On occasion, we would combine one or more of these groups and it could prove to be interesting at times.

       Though we had our share of bad luck over the years, our marriage was solid and our health seemingly good. We had shared so many happy times and were fortunate to have such wonderful friends and family. Who could ask for anything more? This was all about to change soon.

      Vicki and Delilah (age 2) doing the Mowgli walk

      Delilah, Zane, Loni, Timmy and Lincoln

      Chapter two

      Something Was About To Go Terribly Wrong

       Vicki had her last mammogram in 2008. She had her most recent annual checkup with a breast exam in July 2010. With the exception of her high cholesterol level and her only remaining kidney not being in perfect condition, she had received a good bill of health. Vicki had no signs or symptoms of anything being wrong, up to and including September 7, 2010.

       On September 8^th, she awoke with a slight pain to her right breast and she then discovered a small lump in that breast. She called me at work, told me her Mastitis had come back and she would go to see the doctor that day. Vicki was not very concerned as she has had Mastitis before and the normal course of treatment was to take antibiotics and the Mastitis would go away within a week. The lump she discovered did not appear to be hard but squishy like she had before.

       Vicki went to the doctor’s office that day and the Nurse Practitioner agreed with her that it appeared the Mastitis had returned and Vicki was given a prescription for antibiotics and sent on her way. Vicki had wanted to buy a new car for a couple of years but had held off until my work situation appeared to be stable. During her lunch break, she test drove a new Dodge Journey and loved it. She called me at work and asked that I stop by the dealership on my way home to take it for a test drive. She told me she wanted to purchase it that evening. Needless to say, she bought the car that evening and was extremely happy. It brought great joy for me to see her face as she had been very patient and had not bought a new car in several years.

       As the week progressed, Vicki noticed the Mastitis was not going away as it normally did and that the lump was getting larger and starting to